1. The right of authorship, right of the name and right of protection of reputation of the author are protected termlessly.

The ownership rights remain valid during the whole life of the author and 50 years after his/her death, except for cases envisaged by the present Article.

2. Concerning an anonymous work or a work under the pseudonym the protection period makes 50 years after the moment of the first legal publication of the work.

At absence of legal publication within 50 years after the moment of creation of such work, the protection period makes 50 years after the moment of the first bringing of the work to universal knowledge upon the consent of the author in the form other than publication.

At absence of the above valid publication and any other bringing of the work to universal knowledge upon consent of the author within 50 years after the moment of creation of such work, the protection period makes 50 years after the moment of creation of the work.

If during the above period the author of an anonymous work or works under a pseudonym discloses his/her person, or his/her person does not leave any further doubts, clause 1 of the present Article shall be applied.

3. The ownership rights on a work created in co-authorship, shall act during the whole life and 50 years after the death of the last author who has survived over other co-authors.

4. Calculation of the periods envisaged by the present Article shall starts from January 1 of the year following the year, in which the juridical fact took place being the basis for beginning to calculate the period.

Article 23. Common Property

1. Expiration of operation period of ownership rights on objects of copyright or adjacent rights means transition of these objects into common property.

Objects of copyright or adjacent rights never protected in the territory of the Republic of Belarus are also considered as transited into common property.

2. Objects of copyright or adjacent rights transited into common property may be freely used by any individual or legal entity without payment of any reward. In this case personal non-ownership rights must be observed.